Test Drills
by JesssMellark
Summary: Everything is about security in the caves to make sure people are safe. You know the drill but sometimes drills don't always go to plan


**Hello! So this is my first Host story. I loved the book and can't wait for the film to come out eeek! I apologise in advance and warn you that my updates will follow mo pattern, I will basically update this story when I've finished a chapter and am completely happy with it. I won't have many Author's Notes and will only give one disclaimer for the whole story. If you can, a little review would be very much appreciated, I hope you enjoy this :)**

***Disclaimer -I own nothing, all credit goes to Stephenie Meyer. I'm just playing around with the plot.**

sumary:

Everything is about security in the caves to make sure people are safe. You know the drill but sometimes drills don't always go to plan.

Chapter 1

"Good morning Ian," I whispered as I slowly woke up from a dreamless sleep. I heard a content sigh seconds later coming from just above where my head lay. His arms tightened around me the slightest as I let a small smile creep onto my lips at the gesture.

"Good morning Wanda," he replied. He always woke up before me nowadays. For some reason I thought it was kind of nice. Knowing that he was awake and just holding me in his own will, that he hadn't decided to leave me in the early hours of the day, that he was safe with me and only me. I understand that I might sound selfish but in this moment in time I couldn't have given a care in the world. It had been like this every morning since the day we had been let back into our rooms, the flooding had luckily only lasted just over a couple of months. "How are you this morning?"

I looked up into his peircing eyes which were staring straight back at me filled with love and care. My smile widened as I ran my fingers through his hair slowly and gently.

"Never better." I ran a finger along his cheek testing how far he could resist before he gave in and kissed me. Our eyes stayed locked the whole time as he bit his lip restraining himself from smiling. The corners of his eyes wrinkled up as my finger traced along his jaw. His hand came up to my waist and I felt him drawing small circles through my top. When I say my top, I really meant Ian's. He had given it to me as a pajama top or sometimes, rarely, as a night dress but only when it was unbearably warm. With it I wore some pink pajama shorts that I had picked up on a recent raid. In my opinion it was way too girly for me but Pet had always loved pink so it had kind of rubbed off on me. Ian didn't particularly like when I came along on raids so whenever I went, he went. That was my Ian, always there by my side.

"How about you? You okay?" I said innocently. His hand at my waist slid up, passed my shoulder and cupped my cheek. With our eyes still never breaking contact I moved my thumb over his lips and saw his eyes darken a little. A low chuckle escaped his lips as he shook his head with a smile.

"You have no idea." With that he grabbed my hand which was back to stroking his cheek, kissed the knuckles and crushed his lips into mine. I responded immediately loving the warm fusy feeling he gave me whenever we kissed. I intertwined our hands together and brought my free hand up to bury in his hair. His free hand was at my waist bringing me closer to him. He was always carefull though not too reserved. He was always daring but not pushy.

Too soon we broke apart gasping for air. A small quiet giggle bubbled in my mouth as we leaned our foreheads together. He once again brought our entertwined hands up to his lips and kissed the back of my hand. In that moment not one person in the world could've wiped the smiles plastered on our faces.

"I wish we could stay here all day, relax, do nothing," I said when we had gotten our breaths back.

"I'm sure we're allowed to have some days off every now and then. We could ask." He offered. He was right. Jeb was always telling me to have a rest and saying I did too much, if I asked there is no doubt he would allow me, but having Ian off would be tricky. Ian was extremely strong and knew the caves like the back of his hand, every nook and crany which made him very usefull. I still had a few places I hadn't been in so I tended to stick to doing everyone's washing, pass out water for people in the fields or help put together meals for everyone in the caves.

"It's fine. Is it time to get up yet?" I asked looking up and around our room. I felt Ian brush a stray piece of hair out of my face.

Sighing he replied, "Yeah probably, we should get going," I squeezed his hand and yawned. We both untangled ourselves from eachother and got up from the matress to go and get dressed and have breakfast. "Are you on kitchen duty today Wanda?" Asked Ian while taking his top off. I looked away reluctantly to hide my blush and went through a pile of my clothes lying on the table next to our red door.

"Yeah, I'll be helping Trudy." Working in the kitchen normally included helping out with making the meals and washing up the dishes which I didn't mind. The washing up part always made my hands extremely soft. "I'm guessing you're in the fields?" Getting no reply I started turning around to see what the matter was when his strong arms circled my waist from behind. I laughed as Ian nuzzled his face in my neck with a quiet 'yeah' whispered in the process. Smiling I picked up a white top and a pair of navy shorts. Ian, stubborn as he was, took them from my hands and put them back down.

"Ian..." I said in a warning tone, "we need to go and get breakfast."

"I know, I know. I love it when you wear my clothes though." Laughing, I twisted in his arms and took his head in my hands blushing once again when I noticed that he was still bare chested. "You're blushing Wanderer," He said with a toothy grin. I pecked his lips quickly and tried to distract him.

"Ian, I wear your top to bed everynight if you hadn't noticed," I said steadily.

"Wanda, I wear something of yours everyday _and_ night." He replied smiling at me. I frowned. He'd been wearing my things? Wait, what? Before I got the chance to ask what he meant, he held up his wrist at me to reveal 2 hair ties. One purple, one blue. "You see, you hadn't even noticed."

"When on earth did you get that? I thought I had lost them!" I said in a teasing shock, hitting his chest lightly. He captured my lips in his smiling ones and broke apart soon after planting kiss to my temple.

"Just something to remind me of you while I work." He said casually, moving to his pile of clothes, "Come on, lets go." Getting changed quickly we then made our way toward the kitchen to get some breakfast hand in hand, arms swinging slightly.

When we arrived at the kitchen entrance I spotted Melanie directly. Poor Mel had been left behing by Jared, he had gone off on a raid for food with Kyle, Brant and a couple of others. I had offered to go but Ian had stopped me. As if Ian could read my mind, he guided me through the tables over to where Mel was sitting.

"I'll go and get our food," Ian whispered in my ear placing a kiss to the top of my head and wandering away to where Trudy was serving the plates. I took a seat next to Mel and just sat there with her in silence. I put an arm around her shoulder as she leaned her head on mine.

"How you holding up?" There was no need for a greeting between us so we never bothered.

"I'm alright. I can't really be bothered with work today to be honest." It wasn't just that, I could tell. She was lonely.

"Where's Jamie?" I asked.

"Sharon took him away early. He'd barely had any breakfast before he was called away." Poor Jamie. I could only imagine how annoyed he must've felt.

Ian soon came back with two plates consisting of two bits of butter covered bread and an apple on each and sat down opposite Mel and I. I thanked him with a smile which he happily returned. I chose to eat one of the bits of bread first as the apple was the best part. I had overheard Lily talking about an old expression the other day, 'Save the best till last' she had said, now I understood the meaning behind it. Mel and Ian made small talk while we ate and I let my mind wander away. In the mist of my thoughts I did pick up on a few things they were saying though. I learned that the people on the raid were said to be coming home today and that there was a test drill that was due soon. I had never experienced one, infact I had no idea what test drill was. I looked down at my plate which was now filled with only one bit of bread, the apple was in my hand. I heard Mel laugh a little.

"Wanda has no idea what we're talking about, look at her face!" she was saying to Ian. It wasn't until then that I realised my eyebrows were furrowed. I looked up at them both raising my eyebrows and seeing Ian restraining a smile. I looked away feeling the blush on my cheeks and took another bite out of my apple hearing a chuckle. Ian reached over the table and took my free hand in both of his, he had already emptied his plate.

"Is it the test drill you're confused about? " He asked which I returned with a nod. "Well it's basically a run through of what we do if there's trouble, trouble meaning if any seekers or humans find or get a little close to the caves. We've got this system where somebody alerts us with a sound and when we hear it we've got to get out. I'm sure Jeb'll explain it before he does it. The only problem is that we get no warning what so ever, for all we know something could actually be happening out there when the signal is called," he gave a little shrug "so we like to keep our memories fresh and test ourselves every now and then." He finished squeezing my hand.

"But are we allowed to go back to our rooms to get our stuff?" I asked. The idea of leaving everything behind worried me. If we just went straight for the exit, all the memories and personal things would just disappear and never be seen again. It did seem like the right thing to do though, I understood their way of thinking on that one. When there's danger, get out. That's basically what I was understanding. Ian shook his head.

"We'll be fine don't worry." Mel said. Her eyes were looking down. I followed her line of vision and noticed she was looking at my hand intertwined in Ian's with a sad smile.

"Mel, he'll be back soon." I told her locking eyes with her. "Are you working in the fields today?" She nodded.

"So is Ian, he'll keep you company, right?" I chirped up looking at him. I saw him looking at me in a way I had never seen before, this made me curious and of course ended up making my cheeks glow. With another hand squeeze he looked at Melanie.

"Yeah sure," Just then Melanie stood up and took her plate in her hands and looked around.

"Oh no, it's okay Mel. Leave your plate here with me, I'm cleaning up today. You two better get going anyway, " Melanie raised her eyebrows in a are-you-sure manner which she did often that I answered with a smile and an exaggerated nod taking another bite of my nearly finished apple. Mel gave me a small hug from the back and walked away in the direction of the fields. Meanwhile, Ian jumped up on the table top and quickly sat down beside me earning a few sideway glances and tuts from the people around us. Smiling, he captured my lips in his and cupped my cheek. The kiss lasted only seconds but made the butterflies in my tummy fly all the same.

"You're adorable," he whispered agaisnt my smiling lips. He kissed me again slowly which made me put my apple down on my plate and bury my hand in his hair. We broke apart, both reluctant and I rested my forehead on his with closed eyes. "The signal for the drill is three whistles or buzzes or shouts, just whatever you can do at that moments in time. The first one short, second long and third short again. If the signal goes, I'll look for you before I leave. I won't leave here without you and that's a promise. I cross my heart" He whispered. I removed my hand from his hair and trailed it down his face, neck to where his heart rested and traced a cross along it. I opened my eyes and looked at his lips which were positioned in a smile that could melt my soul in a second. I pecked his lips once.

"Thank you," I whispered back. "I will not leave without you by my side either. Not now not ever." I took his hand and kissed the knuckles. "Cross my heart." He proceeded to repeat my gesture and drew a cross along my own heart ending the motion with a kiss on the neck. I giggled feeling the burn on my cheeks. "Come on, scram before I make you stay here all day with me against your will!" I swatted his arm and he stood up with a chuckle.

"Agaisnt my will? Nah, never." he kissed my head and stroked my cheek from behind. "I think I'll be made to have lunch in the fields so I won't see you until dinner," He sighed again, "I'll see you later honey." with that he walked away. I watched him go before I stood up and collected the three plates.

I still had a bit of buttered bread which I had no hunger left for so off I went to look for a taker with the plates. I noticed Freedom sitting a few seats away with his brother, both talking happily to Lily. Smiling I made my way to where they were and sat myself beside Freedom.

"Hello Lily! Hello Freedom! Hello Isaiah!" I greeted one by one. They returned it smiling, a wave from Lily, a toothy smile from Isaiah and a squeal from Freedom. "I have some spare bread, would you like it?" I asked.

"No I'm alright," Lily said quietly, suddenly her smile widened. "I noticed you and Ian a minute ago, I've never seen Ian act that way. He's head over heels for you." From my time in the caves I had learned that Lily was very observant. It also saddened me, her love was gone but she kept a smile on her face anyway. Lily was so strong, I admired her for it.

"Wanda in looove" Freedom was singing making me blush and ruffle his hair. He still couldn't speak every bit of every words properly yet which made him even cuter.

"Can we have your bread? I'll share it with Free, promise! Please please please?" Begged Isaiah. I didn't see why he was so desperate, I would give them my food without a second thought if they wanted it. Instead I smiled at him and saw Freedom put his hands together as if he was going to clap but kept them there. I didn't know what that gesture meant, I better ask Ian about it later on when we get back to our cave. Our cave. I felt my cheeks getting hot. This was definitely something I didn't like about this host, I can never seem to stop blushing. Lily giggled,

"Wanda you're blushing so much you look like a tomato!" That set Isaiah and Freedom off in fits of laughter which made a few laughs escape me aswell seeing them so happy. I put the plate between the two brothers and shook my head still smiling.

"Here you go you little devils," I said getting back up. "I need to go, have a nice day Lily. Bye boys, don't be too late for school!" I waved at Lily, gave small hugs to Freedom and Isaiah and left. School would start in around ten minutes for them which had me wondering why Jamie was summoned so early. I brushed it off and made my way over to the tray of dirty dishes.

Before I left for the washroom with the tray I told Trudy I would do the washing up. We normally took it in turns to cook and wash but we always had someone else help as well. Today was no different, Candy was also there to help. They both agreed to cook and off I went. I'll be honest the tray was extremely heavy and I did have to stop a few times to stretch my arms but in the end I managed the short trip to the washroom unharmed.

This host was incredibly weak, that was one thing I missed about being in Melanie. But I ccouldn't really complain. I always got made to do the easy jobs which aggrivated me a lot but whenever I could I would make sure I did the extra jobs needing done.

The day was slow. Too slow. I did the washing thinking over the things that had changed since my reinsertion. The jobs, the way people acted around me, my relationship with Ian... Just thinking about it brought a smile to my face, maybe a blush aswell but there wasn't enough light to tell. A couple of people passed throughout my time washing, greeting me and leaving soon after they had gotten washed. I had really taken my time today although I knew that if I had gone any faster I wouldn't have had anything to do. I could've gone back to the kitchen only I probably would've been told to take a break. More people usually turn up to help for the dinner making so the kitchen would be too crouded right now. I carried on rinsing the plates and cutlery.

After another half hour I heard footsteps coming toward the washroom. I just thought it was another person coming down to wash when I was happily surprised to see a smiling Jamie come up to me.

"Hey Wanda! Dinner's been called." He said as his tummy growled. Laughing, I stood up and brushed myself off. The dust from the cave floors and walls was everywhere. I reached down to pick up the tray full of clean dishes only to find Jamie had already beat me to it.

"It's fine, I'll carry it," He said. A small groan left my lips. He knew I didn't like it when people did things for me but still, he went on and did it anyway.

"So how was school?" I asked knowing that would get him started. Jamie ended up talking the whole way back. It seemed he was getting annoyed at Sharon, first for interupting his breakfast and secondly for keeping him behind ten minutes for not paying attention. I shook my head smiling as we entered the dining hall. I scanned the room for the pair of blue eyes I longed to see but found none staring back. Knowing I still had time before Ian arrived I reached for the dish tray.

"Here, I'll take them back to Trudy. Go get your food," I told Jamie taking the tray out of his arms before he could decline. Seconds after he left, a pair of strong arms circled my body from behind and took the tray from me lifting it over my head.

"I don't think so," Muttered Ian through my hair and kissing my head softly. Before I even said hello he zoomed of to drop off the tray glancing back at me grinning. I smiled and shook my head. Knowing how much of a gentleman he was, I knew he would get both of our meals along the way. I found us two seats next to Sunny and Mel and sat down.

"Hey! I hope you don't mind me taking these seats,"I said. Mel and Sunny both smiled.

"No it's fine we don't mind at all,"she said.

You could tell Sunny missed Kyle, just like Mel missed Jared. I had no idea if Kyle felt the same way for Sunny as he did for Jodie. I had no idea if he actually liked Sunny or if he was just hoping Jodie was still in there, I prefered to beleive he actually did care for her. I had no idea what they did when they were alone. Did they embrace eachother when they slept? Did they kiss? I would never have the nerve to ask of course, these are just thoughts. I have been having many thoughts about how other people manage to stay content in these caves, most questions I asked myself remained unanswered.

Ian reappeared minutes later with two plates consisting of rice bread. We were really running out of food now, if Jared and the others didn't return soon there would be nothing left. Ian's eyes met mine and he sat down next to me wrapping his arms around my waist.

"I'm sorry tonight's meal is so plain, we're running low on food. You okay?" I smiled at him, glad to have him back by my side. He had no reason to apalogise but he did anyway because he was Ian. It wasn't like he had been the one eating all the food, although he did eat all the bits of my meals I couldn't finish. I started giggling to myself as I though of how much Ian actually ate. Quite a lot, but of course it still wasn't his fault most of the food was gone. We just hadn't managed to ration as well as we had been before and that could be improved. Its only now that I realised how lonely I had been all day.

"Yup, I'm fine. How are you?" He kissed me on the nose quickly.

"I'm good too." He unwrapped his arms from around me, took my hand and started eating. "Hey Mel, Sunny." He nodded in their direction. We were quiet as we ate, Mel made a couple of comments about how stale the bread was but apart from that we were in a comfortable silence. I normally talked about my day's happenings when I had completely finished which, right now, wasn't the case.

All of a sudden Ian got up and started pulling on my arm urgently. My brow creased together as I looked around and saw everyone was getting up too. Where were they going? It was as if everything was happening in slow motion. People were panicking, screaming maybe but I didn't hear it. I heard nothing. Weird, I was fine a second ago. Ian was tugging on my arm harder now so I lifted my legs from under the table and Ian took off running pulling me along behind him. What on earth was going on.

Ian didn't let go off my hand once and kept glancing back as we ran. I had no idea where we were going and all I could feel was people running next to me heading in the same direction. This was all too much. Too much confusion, too much movement, too fast, too much happening at once in so little time.

Too much.

The last thing I remember is hearing a chocked sob and darkness overtaking my vision. Just like that my consciousness disappeared and I felt like I was floating.


End file.
